Bioshock: Ad Infinitum
by AbraxasElias
Summary: What would happen if Jack's idyllic lifestyle would be interrupted by a pair of strangers who explained that somehow a girl was connected to him in ways that would seem impossible.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, This is my first fanfic on a game that i have become increasingly obsessed with for about gosh-knows how many months! (Seriously, all i could think about was putting bullets into people then shocking them with my hand before thinking about the complete plausibility of the space-time continuum being destroyed, but hey sometimes you gotta take it out on something,right? RIGHT?!) **

**This series is dedicated to tying my emotional feelings on certain parts of the game and the pairing of Jack/ Elizabeth since they barely have an sort of dedicated fiction that should be worthy of noting a relationship that for me seems to be the perfect ship! I mean it should be pulling heartstrings! (Not my victims, uhh...that was another matter.) **

**While the complexity of time-travel and timey-wimey-wibbly-wobbly nonsense could make this INCREDIBLY ludicrous. I believe that nothing will stop our star-crossed lovers from meeting and living happily ever after...or living adequately normal human lives to which they live moderately which hopefully stop me scrawling my walls full of Bioshock drabbles. I could be sick.**

**Please rate, review and give comments on the style of my writing.**

Bioshock: Ad Infinitum

Jack woke up in an unfamiliar place. There was the sound of a low violin droning through the room and the cries of girlish laughter that echoed. He sat up, but he ached as his entire body burned. He recalled his battle with Atlas and the cavalry that took the form of little girls with their dreaded syringes. He watched as Fontaine squirmed in the floor as they took the very tainted blood that tainted the city. They it bled out of him and left him in a state that befitted him, an empty husk. The last thing he recalled was his hand reaching out to one the girls before fading into a empty void.

He noticed he was only dressed down to his drawers, his body covered in bandages as his clothes laid neatly on a bedside table. They smelt fresh, new considering after horrors he had seen through the city called Rapture. As he stood up from the bed, still groaning from the pain, his eyes darted to another of the little girls squealing at him and rushing out of the door. He was flabbergasted, almost stumbling back as he heard numerous footsteps rushing towards him. He had no weapon, no form of defense, and if it were to end like this he at least knew that he did the right thing. He closed his eyes.

Jack was tackled onto the bed, numerous limbs went kicking and flailing about as they attempted to take a piece of him. Laughter and even cries resonated from the mass as the girls hugged every piece of the man, some even kissing his face. Tenenbaum walked through the ajar doorway, holding a towel, rubbing her hands softly with it, smiling at what little happiness she was allowed to cherish.

'Alright, little ones, leave him alone. If we intended to kill him, we would have left where he was. Now, out!' she exclaimed out of the bliss of the room.

The girls scuttled away, releasing Jack from their clutches one by one, running off behind Tenenbaum except for one. She held onto a doll head tightly as Jack rose up from the bed, sitting up as he stared at the little girl, she seemed anxious as she held even tighter on her odd toy. She looked at him then to her toy before she held it out towards him, relenting with a smile. Jack took it before she giggled and ran after her sisters. Jack seemed confused by the gesture but smiled as well as she left the room still admiring the toy. Tenenbaum looked surprise.

'Sally never allowed anyone to touch her doll before. That meant alot to her you know especially since it was before all...this.' she said somberly before approaching Jack, placing the towel on the bedside table and sitting next to him.

Jack continued to smile at the toy before he turned it to a frown as the experiences of the city returned in flashes and washed over what was left from the joy that had come as quickly as it could leave.

'What you did for my little ones...they will never forget what you did for them and in the end, they will love you for it' she said lighting up as he continued to stare at her with tired eyes. She placed a hand on his shoulder and rubbed lightly. Her looked turned darker as she frowned, considering her own sins and the part she played . 'Neither would i.'

'Jack, i know by now that you will never forgive those who played their hand to have brought you here.' She addressed firmly, her grasp on his shoulder growing tighter. 'and i don't intend to ask you for your forgiveness for my part that played, please put out your hand.'

Out of nowhere, she pulled a syringe that contained a strange black liquid. Jack was almost startled but he soon relaxed as Tanenbaum placed it onto his hand. 'You can finish it if you want to, Jack.' She said quietly.

Jack just stared at her.

Tenenbaum just closed her eyes, she folded up her sleeves, leaving an exposed arm. 'Just tell my little ones, Aunt Tenenbaum was very tired and needed to rest' She then reiterated. 'and get them the hell out on nearest bathysphere and put as many of them you can, away from this wretched city.' Tears swelled at the edges of her eyes. She then heard a clink and opened her eyes.

Jack dropped the syringe on the floor. He then hugged Tenenbaum and in response she held onto him tightly. Tears streamed down her face however she didn't understand.

'Why? Why after all this time you still forgive those who wronged you?' She said, her voice cracking slightly.

Jack simply smiled.

'Because no one else will'

After Jack replaced his bandages and got dressed in his cleaned up attire. Tenenbaum led him into a hallway that led towards an atrium.

'This use to be the entrance to the opera house before the fall.' She explained.

Jack saw the ceiling's intricate frame cascade over the familiar blue expanse of the sea as a whale swam gracefully across the ever eerie sky. Jack walked across, passing the familiar girls, colouring, playing games or waving at him. Jack could only wave back and smile. Tenenbaum led him to another walkway down that led to a strange door.

'These were one of few remaining, existing entrances to the escape bathyspheres left in Rapture.'

Jack noticed there has a pass code and DNA reader that he remembered were similar to those in Andrew Ryan's securities and reinforcements

.

'So far only Andrew Ryan could acc-'

Jack just then took the initiative and punched a few numbers onto the keypad and ran his skin onto the DNA scanner for confirmation. The door's steamed open and revealed a row of batheshperes ready for deployment. Tenenbaum could only stare and then smirk.

'Oh yes, i forgot.'

Eventually, Tenenbaum had every little sister ready to pack up and leave, ensuring that no little toy or doll was left. Jack was impressed with the level of coordination these bright girls had, even after their traumatic experiences. After the girls brought everything they could carry, Tenenbaum assigned them to their pods and initiated their lunch to be synced simultaneously. As the countdown drew closer to zero, and every little sister that could fit into the bathysphere was ready to leave only Tenenbaum and Jack were yet to board theirs. Jack as ready to step inside the pod, he noticed Tenenbaum was not coming.

'I'm sorry, Jack but i cannot come with you.'

Jack grew concerned. Tenenbaum just smiled as even more tears swelled.

'Jack, you've done everything remotely possible for me and my little ones but i cannot come with you. Not yet anyway. I don't belong to that world anymore, especially after all what had happened, after all i have seen.'

Jack moved closer to her.

'I'm so sorry, even if now i'm still apologizing for all i've done. I would never have expected to come out of this alive and i dreamed that somehow i might but in the precipice of realizing that dream i found something more important and more meaningful than myself. I can't let this happen again, Jack and i won't let it destroy it for my little ones. They deserve it that much.' She cupped his face and rubbed her thumb. 'You deserve it.' She let go. 'I'll have to stay, its the only way to prevent anymore repercussions that might follow and who knows if there may be more of my little ones here in this hell.'

Jack gave in and hugged her. Even though deep down he knew she deserved whatever faith that might fall unto her here, she was closest thing to a real mother he could recall. His memories were not his own, not anymore but the events that took place brought him closer to her and the girls then he could really hope to see. He let go.

'Take care of them for me, please. You are their last hope of a real life, a better life then we gave them here.' she said finally before letting go and leading him into an empty pod.

Jack saw the girls kicking and screaming in the separate pods, beating down the doors as the bathyspheres launched one by one below and sinking out into the dim waters leaving only Jack's pod left. Jack sat quietly on the familiar cushiony velvet chair as Tenenbaum pulled the lever and walked away from the pod and waved good-bye, tears still streaming down her weary face. It was surreal. He remembered when he first arrived as a man begged for his life before a splicer cut his stomach open. The splicer turned to him and announced, 'Was it someone new?' It was that moment, he knew something was terribly wrong and he would eventually be thrown into events that was much larger than he would have ever anticipated.

He said his goodbyes to perhaps one of last few remnants of light in Rapture. As the doors closed, sealing shut and a familiar silhouette engulfed her as she continued to wave goodbye, Jack felt that somehow no matter how much he knew that although he never truly lived or breathed in that world, it would forever become a part of him no matter how much he denied or want to run away from it. The bathysphere suddenly dived lower, and the dark, cold familiarity of Rapture's architecture became evident as the pod passed the darkened, tall obelisks, lit only with neon signs that continued to lose their vibrancy, flickering on and off as he ascended. He never blinked once as he rose, the light of the city continued to grow dimmer away into a blurry blue mass of the ocean before being consumed by the darkness. As Jack looked away from the city of Rapture for one last time, to look up towards the roof of the sea as his bathysphere broke through the roof into a world he didn't know he would see again.

It was also the first time he could breath the fresh ocean air again, instead of that artificial gas that was pumped into the city. He breathed long and hard before his pod door opened, as the ocean managed to splash into his pod. Jack didn't notice how happy he was to see the ocean that wasn't trying to drown him. He then noticed the girl's pods opening. They looked around in wonder, some even jumping into the ocean. They screamed and laughed in warm night as they played before Jack organized them to paddle towards the Lighthouse. The same lighthouse that brought the omen of a now repressed memory. They all stared into the horizon, watching the clouds break, as a massive orange sphere rose up and filled the starry sky to crimson. The girls were at awe as the sky lit like never before, streaming a bright red background into the empty starry sky. One of the girls tugged Jack's wool sweater, sucking her thumb as she looked up, breaking Jack's transfixed gaze. He looked down and noticed the one named Priscilla

'Does this mean we can't go home anymore?' she quietly whimpered.

Jack just stood there and thought of the future. He didn't know how to respond to the innocent, hapless girl in a world of untold dangers and uncertainty. Instead, he smiled and knelt down, eye-level to her as he put his hands onto her shoulders before he announced perhaps the most important decision he wholeheartedly accepted by a choice he didn't know he wanted.

'No, little one, it means we'll have to make our own.' He smiled.


	2. Chapter 2

_Screams echoed through the night, a bellowing noise was heard through the dark long night. Water leaked onto his face, as he tries to pull out his gun but it refused to give in to his grasp. He then saw it. The metallic behemoth that screeched at him from above. Jack whipped his pistol out but it refused to budge and it locked. It was jammed. The dark figure descended towards him as Jack could only cower beneath a red light._

Jack awoke violently, as he screamed into the early morning daylight. The girls fled from him from all directions, jumping out from his bed and fleeing into the nearest exit of his room. During the entire commotion, a bowl of water flew up into the air and splattered his face drenching his hair and his sheets. He groaned.

'Amanda! Quinn! How many fucking times did i tell you t-' He stopped as he saw little Priscilla sucking her thumb again, her eyes swelling in her tiny little dress, quivering on her knocked knees.

'Aw, no, no, no. I'm sorry, Priscilla, shhh...'

He got up and knelt down to hug her.

'Shh…, daddy didn't mean to yell at you, he was just angry at your sister's making a joke.' He continued to hold her tightly before letting go and wiping her eyes.

'Do you want some breakfast, huh? would you like that, hmm? Shh… don't cry or you'll make me cry, okay?'

Priscilla nodded and Jack carried her in his arm before kissing her on her forehead, before trudging towards the door. The girls scuttled away again, unsure if he might incur his wrath, but Jack was just far too drowsy to care. He sat Priscilla down onto the cold wood floor and proceeded to the kitchen.

Jack didn't know how he managed, but after working multiple odd jobs, and inching a way up the local enforcement, he had managed to settle in as a "consulting detective" with "special" prowess in dealing in certain cases that required a delicate touch. This was most likely due to Jack's abilities in a various attributes in fighting, hacking and sometimes "magical powers" that required his attention. Due to his rather "abundant" offspring, the commissioner of the local police and the blessings of the mayor who was grateful for his service they allowed him to stay on an idyllic and quiet part of the city in the suburbs, not far from the New York Police Department with an adequate wage, in exchange for his talents. Although his abilities, were far superior to the average man, he cared only for his "daughters" the best way he could however it does toil on a father who has to raise such a flock.

His home was not the most perfect of habitable residencies however it proved enough for Jack and his daughters without creating a stir on space. It was moderate in size, humble without any sign of the luxury or excess. The furniture was only there to facilitate a purpose and many of them were for Jack's daughters who instead ruin them with their incessant play or colouring. It was to be expected of a father.

Jack went downstairs towards the kitchen, which mostly consisted of a counter, fridge, stoves and a few cabinets for any necessities for the large family. He noticed the rest of his girls preparing for breakfast, pulling out a mountain of sausages, hams, eggs and flour. Many of the girls already have started making pancakes, some cracking eggs into a large bowl before dumping milk into it and blending it with a whisk.

'Alright, you all set up the tables and take your place- Jocelyn, what did i tell you about licking the spoon! Alexandra! Don't you touch the stove, its dangerous!'

The girls giggled as they cracked open the cabinets for their utensils and plates as they sat down, continuing to talk amongst themselves, some pushing and shoving for a better place in the very large table that somehow became part of the kitchen. Jack took the ready made ingredients and set himself up for an order, that although had become routine would be just as exhausting as taking down a utopia. Jack sighed and took the pan out.

Jack's days were blissfully dull, and his services as a consultant remained quiet which allowed him to focus on his girls more. Days were filled with playing and teaching, never leaving a single one out and taking what time is allowed to love every one of them.

Later, that evening, as Jack tucked his girls in into their bunk beds, kissing them good-night and calming down those that were stubborn enough to not concede, Jack noticed one bunk empty. It was labeled 'Sally'.

'Susan, where is your sister?' Jack asked on the above bunk.

'I don't know, daddy, you know how she is, she's always running off on her own.' She cuddled in her soft blankets.

'Okay, i'll be right back, goodnight.'

'Goodnight' She said finally before drifting to sleep as Jack parted her hair.

He turned off the light before shutting the door as he began his quest for his missing child. He looked around the house for a while checking where most likely where little girls would hide to avoid bed-time. Oddly, there was no sign of her even after he looked through the usual places under his bed or in the living room. He began to , he heard a shuffle behind closet under the stairs. He opened the door slowly and called softly.

'Sally? You in here, i'm very worried about you, please talk to daddy.' Jack saw the little girl curled in the corner, visibly shaken.

Jack sat down next to her. He stroked her hair, as he felt her continue to quiver. The girl

continued to sob until she jumped onto Jack's arms, quietly crying into his chest. She gave in, still sobbing.

'I don't want to go back to sleep. I keep seeing the bad men take me away to the beds! I don't want to go back, i don't want...'

She continued to cry. Jack didn't know how to help the poor traumatized girl but continue hold her in the what safety he could provide in the dim room. The wave of memories suddenly rushed back into him as if he was slammed into a wall. Every last detail of the place made his blood turn cold, that all he could do was continue to stare at the poor child with defeat. What should he say to make everything that was bad in the world, go away? Should he just say that is wasn't real? To openly deny reality of a time that would have destroyed everything they held dear? No, he told himself.

'Sally, do you remember that time when you gave me your doll?'

She sniffed.

'That was the happiest moment of my life, did i ever tell you that?' He smiled as Sally looked up with her swollen, red face.

'After that moment i knew that what mattered most to me at that moment were you girls and how much you deserved so much more than i could possible i could hope to give in my life. You all are the most precious things to me and i would never let anything ever happen to you.'

Sally's gaze began to lower. Jack placed his palm to her cheek and raised it to ensure she was seeing him straight in the eyes.

'Do you understand? I...will...never...let anything hurt you.' He finally said with an intense yet almost certain clarity.

'Yes, papa.'

Sally squeezed Jack even tighter, her viper-like grip leaving him unsure if she'll let go for a few minutes before she let go.

'Ready for bed?' Jack said comfortly.

'Yes...'

'Come on' Jack said, carrying the sleepy child to her room.

As Jack tucked her into bed, and gave her a peck on her forehead, Sally gave one final hug on his head before turning over and taking some well-deserved sleep. Jack remembered Sally's favourite toy underneath her bunk and placed it next to her. The old, porcelain head was almost inseparable with her even though Jack never asked her the significance of it. In all honesty, he didn't care, as long as it brought as much comfort to her to forget. As Jack finally closed the door behind him and let out an exhausted sigh before retiring for the evening. He heard the bell door rang in his front door. He was astonished with whoever needed his services this late in the evening. A hefty moan as he dragged his feet towards it, he opened the door, and to much to his surprise, the strangest sight he wished he never encountered.

In front of him were the oddest couple he ever met in a dark, clear and quiet night. They both wore damp yellow raincoats, although there wasn't evidence of rain or a storm anywhere at all.

Although they continued to drip onto his porch, Jack noticed they looked almost alike with their ginger hair, freckles, similar facial structure and smug look. Jack quickly assumed they were twins albit the level of similarity between the two was most definitely uncanny. The taller, more masculine figure simply raised an eyebrow at him. Jack's expression turned to concern as the male man spoke.

'Well, he wasn't what i expected.'

He spoke with an almost british accent yet it was bordering to a more nouveau-riche of arrogance he would've expected from the hoity-toity aristocrats. Jack just cringed his eye.

'Well what did you expect, brother? A little bit older with a side of trauma or even crippling self-doubt?'

The female twin also spoke with the same accent yet. The uncanniness with how much her expressionless face made Jack feel uneasy as she allowed sound through her lips yet remain incredibly stoic.

'No, just a bit taller, i suppose.'

His twin responded with the same blank look. Jack did notice how the man "hovered above" him slightly.

'What the hell do you want?' Jack said annoying, ignoring the fact that the rather rude couple have just disturbed a quiet evening.

'Touchy, isn't he.' The drenched male said sarcastically.

'Oh, shush now, if you would've noticed him by now, he seems rather fatigued after the events of today's wasteful leisurely activities of play and other nonsensical parental nonsense.

'What the hell?' Jack thought to himself. Were these two spying on him? That would simply be impossible considering the state of their dress. Were they here for the girls? He made damn sure well that social services wouldn't cause him any problems let alone two strangers with a poor view on his parenting or their rather poor choice yet rather insulting words.

'Who the hell do you think you are? Did you come all this way to invade my privacy and drench my pouch as you prattle on? Listen here, if this is some kind of joke, i would like some damn answers right no-'

'I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to rave about us at a later time however time is something we coincidentally don't have very much time for.' The male interrupted.

'Well, actually we do but we are sticklers to efficiency so we'll keep this short.' The female interjected quickly after.

'We would like to hire you to recover a person, more specifically a girl, out of heavily isolated, some say fanatic, and coincidently brainwashed civilization hell bent on obliterating your world-'

'As you know it, anyway and prevent the conquest and coming war that could destroy the rest of the space-time continuum that may result in a predetermined chain-'

'existing chain-'

'"existing" chain of events that could have unknown repercussions of the lives of your newly adopted family in the far future, not to mention the rest of human-kind.'

'evidently.'

The female just looked at him, raising another questioning eyebrow. The male just grumbled.

'Alright, perhaps definitely. Unless! You can change the events that might alter the course of history and lead to positive implications in the future and hopefully not rip a hole in the universe-'

'We've seen it happen, its not very nice'

'So, what do you say, do we have a deal?'

Jack stared at both of them for a few minutes, contemplated for a bit and slammed the door in their faces.

'Well, that was rude.' The muffled noise of the female cried out.

As Jack slammed the door and turn around, he was shocked to see the couple "inside" the house.

'How the hell did you get in here?!' He exclaimed.

'You invited us in-' The male smirked.

'In another universe, you might have and then tried to possibly hit Robert in the back of the head with a wrench for speaking that way.' The female interjected.

The man assumed to be called Robert just looked down, giving up. He sighed. The female decided to take the lead again.

'Listen , i know that interrupting your rather stable lifestyle should be the least of our concerns however recent events have led to multiply negative possibilities in the current timestream that-'

'Considering our soul purpose to readjust the balance-'

'And that our previous employee failed to accomplish his task-.'

' I don't give two shits about what you want or how the hell you came across that name but if you don't get out of my life, i'll kick you out myself!' Jack exclaimed fuming.

'Then how about if it means harm might befall your girls.' She said finally, her expression turned sour.

Jack was stunned. He wasn't sure to what to make of it. He noticed how he just made a another vow to Sally a few moments ago, to protect every single one of them but somehow these two made it even more evident. Gritting his teeth, and clutching his fists, he said with acid.

'I would do anything for my girls to see them safe.'

'Then you would most likely want to know what we unfortunately have to relay.' The male said quickly.

'As we said Mr. Ryan-'

'Don't call me that, my name is just Jack, i don't care for that name or how you know of it.'

'Very well, "Jack", we need you to recover an Alice from wonderland or at least carry her far enough before she might destroy us all.'

'Why me?'

'Because, unfortunately, you possess a unique set of skills equivalent to our previous employee who, also unfortunately, perished from his attempts.'

'Why not the police or the-'

'Because the government or men with big guns have a tendency to not believe us and would most likely only draw attention-'

'Not to mention that one time where they branded us as insane and attempted to throw us into an asylum-'

'That was a very unpleasant experience which we hope we "never" speak of ever again.'

'But why-'

'Because, also unfortunately, is the fact that your time in Rapture has given you adequate experience with dealing with a dystopian city which although undesirable-'

'Made you the only one to multiply positive outcomes for us for you to accomplish this task where one other had failed repeatedly.'

'How did-' Jack crossed his arms.

'We have our sources and our sources tell us that you are the man for the job-'

'We will pay you considerably, if you were to accept and make our lives easier before finding another version of you who might accept or else you might as well continue with your life knowing a great evil will befall you eventually.'

Jack eyed them both as they dripped in their boots even more in his house. Not a single thing made sense to him yet the way they worded out their nonsense, their mention of Rapture and his life only made him uneasy if what they said was true. In a small way, there was truth in their words but he still felt uneasy. His experience as a consultant also ensured they told no lie as of yet, but his intuition also made him assume they knew a lot more that they let on.

'I don't know who you people are, what you want or even why i'm even considering this but what i know is that my girls are the only thing that gives me purpose in life and if anything were to happen to one of them, i would never forgive myself.' Jack said sullenly.

'Then we'll take it as a yes.'

The man pulls out a train ticket, a list of instructions and a wad of cash.

'We would you like you to meet us in Maine by next week at this precise time-'

'Yes being late would be most troublesome.' The female lightened up.

The couple were about to leave until Jack stepped in their way.

'Wait, this girl? Was she one of the little sisters? How is she connected to Rapture? Who is she?'

'She isn't connected to Rapture, Jack. She was connected to you.'

Jack didn't understand but tried to prod further information.

'And her name's Alice?'

'No, her name is Elizabeth.'


	3. Chapter 3

**Off The Coast Of Maine, 1962**

The rain fell heavily, over the raging coast. Jack held tightly, wondering how the couple managed to hang on and continue rowing under the current. He noticed that even after a week, they still wore the same attire they had since they met him. Did they not change? Putting the thought aside, he could only hear snippets of their conversation involving who should be rowing under the torrent. The rain wouldn't do well for his preferable wool sweater and his concern for it diminished as he spotted an eerie lighthouse in the distance. It looked different, than the one in Rapture, older and more dilapidated. He wondered if he were to return to that nightmarish place.

'I hate lighthouses. Is this another route to Rapture?' He cried out.

'Hopefully not, you would be going the opposite of where the intended destination should be by a very large margin.' The female spoke.

'It would be rather counter-productive otherwise!'

Jack scoffed at them as she gave him a box. There was evidence that a plaques used to be drilled into it but it was hastily removed. As he opened it, he noticed several vintage post cards depicting an angel statue, some coordinates that led back to New York, a key with a bird and cage on it and what looks like a vintage german pistol. Curiously, Jack fumbled with the weapon, it was unfamiliar and rather heavy compared to what he was use to. It had a very primitive look to it with its unusual magazine. There was also another strange card depicting a scroll, key and an upside-down sword with numbers on them. There was also something else that immediately caught his attention. A photo of a girl, almost the age of his oldest, Amanda, in what looked like early 19th century clothing.

'So, who do i have to am i get, exactly? Your grandmother who might looked aged over 30 years old by the time this picture was taken?' Jack said sarcastically.

'Oh! That's a new one!' the male chuckled.

'I assure you, Jack, the person you're looking for will be much younger.' His counterpart eyed him to shut up.

'Listen, i'm beginning to reconsider this if you can't explain why the hell i'm here.'

'All in good time! Before you know it, you'll be back to your little ones, crayoning or whatever you do to pass the time, just follow the instructions in that box and you'll be right as rain.' The male said happily as the intended pun was used in, in his mind, brilliantly.

'You do realise that won't exactly lighten his mood now would it.'

'Would it matter?'

'I suppose not'

Jack recalled how he asked a babysitter or two to look after them while he was gone. Now, he was unsure if he should have left, knowing full well that he might be abandoning them if he might die from this insane couple. All he could hope was that this grandmother of theirs wasn't a gun-toting psychopath.

As the tiny boat, edged closer to the lighthouse, the female turned his back to her companion and held out something, it was a doll head.

'Where hell did you get that?!' Jack exclaimed, forcibly taking it out of the palm of her hand.

'Never mind how i got it, it is vital to your mission-'

'And here we are! Remember, whatever you do don't mention anything about the current events or what the time period is. They don't well if they noticed anything has changed.' The man interrupted conveniently.

Jack just stared at them with a scowl, before he hastily ascended the ladder and looked at the rather shady ruin of what remained of the lighthouse. As he turned back, he saw the couple row back.

'Hey! Are you just going to leave me here?!' He cried out, almost restraining himself on whiping out the pistol at them.

'Shall we tell him when we'll be returning?'

'Will that change anything?'

'It might give him some comfort.'

'I suppose that's something we can agree on.'

'Will somebody at least be meeting me here?!' Jack yelled quickly.

'I certainly hope so!'

'It would be a terrible place to be stranded.'

Jack watched as couple rowed away, out into the gloomy fog. He cursed himself into being manipulated into this situation. How could they have easily fooled himself into thinking this had anything to do with the girls or even himself. This is just getting ridiculous. Considering the fact that he was already here, he might as well get over it before something else happens. He climbed the stairs that led towards the lighthouse. The one thing he did learn about his time with Rapture, he readied his pistol for what may come.

At first, Jack was curious what he found inside. A bowl was turned upside-down, broken frames scattered the floor as the most ominous thing caught his attention the most. What remained of a cotton needlepoint that was frankensteined together made a message that made no sense to him.

It read,'Plant thee sins from sodom, from eden, and lead thee...'

The message trailed off afterwards as thin red line leading from the floor led up to droplets from the stairs and into the next level. Jack had seen plenty of blood before as he slid the gun back, adjusting the hammer before ascending.

The room was trashed, the bed turned over, what looked like a kitchen had pans, pots and stoves filled with paper. A push-pin board hung loosely as a piece of string pinned on the precarious thing had pieces of paper that became evident that somebody had tried to rip a rather large page off of it violently. Jack examined the stoves, but all he could find were burned scraps or pages that were noticeably unreadable. There was nothing in the room that were of value, nor of usability before he decided it was best to move on after trying to piece together that whoever was here, tried to dump as much evidence as possible. He decided to move on, ascending the next floor.

The next room was worst as only one a small electric bulb was alight. Jack saw many horrors and displays of brutality especially against post-mortem corpses but what he saw was relatively new even from his experience in Rapture.

There was a man, or what was left of him, that seemed like he was picked to the bone. His remains knelt on the corner as it seemed old as moss, fungi filled the corpse from head to toe.

'How long was it there?' Jack told himself, trying to examine the corpse. It was a man who was hooded, shot through the forehead, relatively short ranged however there no evidence of a struggle nor signs that the man was forced to submit to the posture. Although it seemed implausible, Jack ruled it out as a suicide as he saw what looked like a German gun on the hand. If this was New York, he could try to discover the motives of the man but this was wasn't New York, It was in the middle of nowhere. The room was dim, and Jack spotted a lantern. He lit it with a remaining match before he almost was startled with what he saw.

On the wall, there was a final message written in a dark maroon stain as it read,' to hell.'

He didn't know what kind of problem this man had, but he knew that whatever led to him killing himself, it ain't a good thing. He put down the lantern before ascending to the final floor of the lighthouse.

There were three bells that had been etched with a scroll, key and the sword. Jack pulled out the card with similar symbols from the box and noticed how they were instructions. It read 9-4-2. Jack quickly assumed that the the number of rings the bell made would open up the lighthouse. As he rang the first bell 5 times, it fell off. He almost felt embarrassed if anybody was around as he picked it up and rang it for a final 4 times. After finishing the combination, the entire lighthouse lit up, although the signs of time, made it move slowly as sparks flew left and right. The skies boomed red, as a bellowing noise resonated across the sky, resembling the combination. A chair then ascended from the floor, however an arm rest seemed to have fell off in the process..

He became quite concerned if they expect if to sit on what looked like a dangerous contraption or what was left of it, especially if this turns out to be another bathysphere to Rapture. He didn't notice anything that seemed airtight, or pressure sensitive, so when he sat down, he seemed anxious. An arm restraint shot out from one his arms rests and before he knew, walls were erupting from the ground as he spun. He didn't know what is going on but he wasn't going to wait to find out. A disembodied voice, spoke something unintelligible. Trying to pull his arm or the restraint off, he remembered the last extra Electro Bolt plasmid he had reserved just in case he was in a bind. As the walls closed in, he took it from his pocket and shot the syringe through his arm one last time as he remembered how painful the entire process was. As what he noticed looked like fire that erupted below, as he stopped to face a window out, he noticed that whatever he was in, started to ascend. He screamed, as the plasmid started to charge inside him. The entire pod started to shake as he noticed he was up in the air.

The disembodied female voice continued to spu static as the vehicle flew dangerously higher, Jack managed to get his plasmid ready and shot off the arm restraint. As he flew higher, what he saw was impossible. Even after Rapture, he believed anything was possible, but this time, he was astonished all over again. A city under the sea might sound ridiculous but a city that flew was near bat-shit insane. What did those two gotten him into?

He flew past, buildings that looked like they belonged and remained in the early 19th century, completely different from the sleekness and vertical nausea of today or even Rapture, but the architecture looked softer, mainly built from bricks and emphasised curves. Dirigibles flew past him as the pod flew slowly across the floating city, the sunny sky complementing the clouds. He didn't know if he just died and went to heaven but he suddenly noticed the pod started to lose some thrust. As it edged towards stopping as he lost altitude, the pod began to rupture as a piece of the wall fell off. Jack hung on to dear life, wishing he never threw off the restraint as the entire pod flew harder. He noticed that he was about to crash towards a festival as the rest of the pod broke peice by peice. He then saw people running away, as he crashed in the middle of the square, and was thrown towards a man in a top hat, he blacked out.

Jack felt pain across his body, every inch of him, burned and became sore. In the darkness, he heard screaming and men approaching his general direction. He was too much in pain to move.

'Secure the area! No one makes it in or out!' A man called out.

Jack continued to hear scrambling, and people screaming.

'Sir!' A female then yelled.

'What is it, sergeant?!'

'Sir! Its Fink, I think his… I think his dead, sir.'

'Well... shit, the prophet isn't going to like this.'

'Sir! We found him!' A younger man's voice echoed through, closer to him.

Jack opened his eyes as he saw what looked like police and ornate masked men and women in blue suits with guns pointing at him.

'The prophet will want to see him.' As one of the policemen spoke.

'Take him.' The masked man commanded.

The next thing Jack knew, he was knocked out by a butt of the gun.

Jack woke up, strapped to a chair, unsure where he was in a dark room, a ringing in his ears. In front of him, two men, wearing black hoods held out what looked like sticks or swords stood side by side to what looked like a screen. The next thing he heard was a loud bellowing, disembodied voice of a man.

'You are not who i was expecting.''

Across from him, the screen lit up, and revealed a bearded old man yet for some reason, Jack couldn't place that his features did not his true age. He deducted that there wasn't any sort of aging or sense of time on his face. No wrinkles, no spots or even warts. He had older hair but the face of a thirty year old. As quickly as Jack could see who he was talking to, he glanced around the room quickly. He wasn't in a room but on one of their smaller dirigibles, as the sound of whirring and the engine accompanied the echo of the man.

'You've created quite a stir didn't you.' The man continued, the screen flickering a bit.

'Well, all i wanted to do was drop in and say hello but your little rocket, certainly disagreed with me and decided to take over the show.' Jack responded sarcastically, his throat felt dry as he swallowed.

The bearded man gave a small chuckle. The hooded men continued to stare at him silently, their gaze never blinking.

'You have humour, whoever you are but considering you don't look like you belong here perhaps you would like to enlighten me a lot more.'

Suddenly, the hooded men stood side by side next to him and finally took whatever they were holding to hang dangerously close to his wrists.

'Like what?.' Jack responded.

'What year is it below?'

_Don't mention anything about current events or what the time period is. _Jack remembered.

'I don't exactly keep track of the date.'

'Yet you don't look like from this time.'

'Its a crime to wear clothes now?'

The bearded man pinched the bridge of his nose, transitioning from his light-hearted demeanor to something more furious.'

'Are you aware that not only did you interrupt a day that was meant to symbolise the birth of this city, wreaked havoc on Raffle Square, and killed one of the most important pillars of this society all in one convenient day?'

Uh...coincidence?'

'I hardly believe that's…just...coincidence. Charles and Rupert?' The bearded man said venomously.

The hooded men raised what now Jack had noticed as the gleam of swords, above him.

'I don't know if he sent you or if 'they' did but here's something i want you to consider, no one and i mean no one will take her away from me, especially some god-forsaken sodomite from down below and i'll be damned if she is taken away from me again!'

The bearded man tone grew more violent.

'Now, you will tell us everything you know or i'll let these two gentlemen hack every...limb...off... of you until you do.'

'How about...no?' Jack said with the same intensity as the bearded man, the Eve within him ready be unleashed.

'Very well, gentlemen? Would you kindly persuade our guest?

As the hooded men swung their swords, Jack had enough remaining Eve within him to shock both of them, conducting the hot sparks through their swords and frying them within before they even touched an inch of his wrists. Jack then burned off the rope restraints they had placed on him in the process, exhausting what was left of his Eve reserve.

'How the…?!'

Jack rubbed the restraints remains off, physically sore, exhausted and mentally fatigued but managing to lift himself off the chair as he leaned next to the nearest pillar.

'Who are you?!'

'Just a man passing through.'

Jack limbed behind the screen, until a door burst open and a flurry of gunfire burst across, lighting the room in blinding flashing light. One of the bullets struck the screen encasing the room again in black. Jack ducked down on the side using the cover of darkness in time, lying on the floor and dragging himself across to a closer piller.

'Sweep the area!.' One of the men cried out.

Jack continued to lie low before he noticed one of the men pass him. Kneeling low, he waited till two more men passed through before he jumped the man who just passed him first. Just as he had done that, he heard a whir behind him, and pushed the man behind him as he watched an explosion of blood erupt from the man's head. The other man who struck his colleague was so in shock, that by the time he knew what was going on at present, Jack grabbed the weapon he held and was embedded on the man's skull and threw quick jab at him, knocking him out. Before he knew it, the other two men opened fire, and Jack rolled forward, sweeping one of the men's feet with his leg knocking him down and gave a jab to his face with the weapon, leaving him on the floor moaning but leaving Jack in the open. The final man smiled but when he pulled the trigger, he realized he was out of ammo. Jack used one of the hooks on his contraption, wringed the edge of his rifle and threw it aside. The man raised his arms and but Jack threw the hooked weapon on his neck.

'Where is the exit?!'

'Its...its...its...right there!' The man pointed at the door that had become noticeably ajar.

'Where are your-' Just as he had finished his question, he accidently pulled the trigger on the damn thing and snapped the man's neck violently, with a loud crunch.

'Crap.' Jack told himself, letting the man slid out of the thing.

He ran for the exit and before he knew it, he was in the cockpit, and across him, standing on a flying platform, the bearded man spoke in a microphone. Around him, men in masks pointed guns at the exposed Jack.

'Holy shit.'

'Be cleansed in fire, heathen.' The bearded man said finally.

A hail of bullets was thrown against him, and the only thing Jack could do was retreat to the previous room. The entire ship was on fire, as the gas swept everything under an inferno but as soon as the dirigible felt it was about to fall off the sky, Jack noticed that the room's cargo bay door had just open, the bodies and chair falling into the abyss. It was either this or falling to his death. He jumped out into the clouds.

As Jack was falling face first into the sky, he noticed a thin, metallic line across and what looked like a rail in mid air. Out of instinct or desperation he pointed the metal contraption at it to see if he could catch it but strangely he felt it become attracted to it then be caught by chance as before he knew, he was sliding through the rail at a high speed. He saw behind him the airship, it burst into an explosive finale before descending into the clouds below leaving a trace of black smoke and orange heat behind.

In front of him, he saw the glistening angel statue that towered high above the city as it was depicted on the postcards and as he entered through the crazy pod, he thought to himself that if fate had a funny way of screwing with him, it would laughing its fucking face off right about now. Jack braced himself for what may come next as he approached the platform, as he cleared through the clouds.


End file.
